December 12, 2011

OVERTURN CITIZENS UNITED!

I think everyone would agree that our politicians are bought and sold by corporate interests--both democrats and republicans. There's too much $ in our politics so our politicians end up reaping the interests of their donors rather than those of their constituents. I don't want to talk down to anyone, but in case you don't know about the Supreme Court case called Citizens United here's my admittedly limited understanding of it. The ruling basically allows corporations to donate to elections. For the first time in history, they can donate unlimited amounts and the amounts need not be disclosed. Even foreign-owned corporations can now donate to candidates of their choice. Worst case scenario? We could see our elections turn into the Exxon candidate running against the Halliburton candidate vs the China candidate versus the mobile phones/big pharma candidate. It's freely admitted that a presidential candidate who raises the most $ wins. They can buy ads to craft perceptions for the majority of us who never bother to dissect the issues. In other words, our elections are already bought and sold--Citizens United institutionalizes the corruption. You might recall Obama speaking out against the Citizens United ruling in his SOTU address several months ago. With an election around the corner, I don't hear anyone but independent Bernie Sanders speaking out against it now. Will you join him to get $ out of politics and sign this petition? message truly appealed to people, why would you need so much $ to win?